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Child-free businesses
店内无童
Nippers not wanted
孩子禁入
The rights and wrongs of banning babies
禁止孩子入内的是与非
IT IS a familiar sound. You are enjoying a quiet beer in your local watering-hole when someone starts crying. Unlike (most) adults, babies cannot seem to order a refreshing bottle without howling.
这个场景似曾相识:你在当地的酒吧里安静的喝着啤酒，突然有人开始大哭。与（多数的）成年人不同，好像孩子们不使劲儿哭就点不到酒一样。
Those who visit bars to seek refuge from rugrats are fighting back. Last month Hot Bird, a craft-beer bar in Brooklyn, barred children. Its owner was fed up with parents who thought their brats were entitled to VIP service despite drinking only milk. One pair of parents asked for the music to be turned down because their five-month-old was trying to sleep. Unattended sprogs have fallen after climbing on bar-stools. A dog bit one little girl after she petted it. The dog-owner and the dog fled. The parents blamed the bartender.
那些为了躲避孩子而光顾酒吧的人开始回击。上个月，位于布鲁克林的一家名为热鸟的工艺酒吧禁止孩子进入。热鸟酒吧的老板受够了那些父母，他们的孩子在酒吧只喝牛奶却认为孩子有权力享受VIP的服务。一对父母曾因为他们五个月大的孩子要睡觉，而要求酒吧把音乐声音调小。无人看管的孩子爬上吧椅后跌落下来。一个小女孩摸了摸狗之后被狗咬伤，而狗主人带着狗逃跑了，父母则责备酒保。
Hot Bird is not alone. Other pubs plagued by prams have taken to excluding children. Double Windsor bans tots after 5pm. Union Hall, a hipster hot-spot, put a “No Strollers, Please” sign on its door in 2008 (though it does allow kiddies in a few afternoons a week). Greenwood Park, which has a lovely beer garden and pitches itself as “family friendly”, closes its doors on kids under 21 after 7pm.
热鸟并不是个例。其他受孩子困扰的酒吧也已经禁止孩子进入。双温莎在17点后禁止孩子进入。一家名为公会大厅的时尚人气酒吧，2008年再他们门口挂了一张写着“禁止手推车，谢谢合作”的牌子（尽管他们在一周中的某几天下午也是允许孩子进入的）。绿木公园拥有啤酒花园和场地，并标榜自己是“关注家庭”型酒吧，他们也在19点后禁止21岁以下的孩子进入。
Bratophobia is not confined to New York. In January Grant Achatz, a Michelin-rated chef, complained about a crying baby in his Chicago restaurant. He could hear it crying even in the noisy kitchen. Via Twitter, he wondered if he should ban children. Last year a Virginia sushi bar banned all diners under 18. Olde Salty, a restaurant in North Carolina, allows kiddies, but has a no-tolerance policy for screamers.
孩子恐惧症并不只在纽约。一月，一名为Grant Achatz的米其林星级厨师，抱怨一个孩子在他芝加哥的饭店里大哭。他在嘈杂的厨房里都能听到哭声。他在推特上发声，说他是否可以禁止孩子进入。去年，弗吉尼亚州的寿司店禁止18岁以下客人进入。一家位于北卡罗来纳名为Olde Salty的饭店允许孩子进入，但是不允许孩子哭闹。
Businesses that shut out children argue that parents have plenty of other places to go. In New York Parkslopeparents.com lists lots of kid-friendly bars and restaurants. Cinemas are usually accommodating. The “cry baby matinee” at the East 86th Street Cinema, for instance, shows grown-up movies but welcomes babies. The lights are dimmed just a little bit and the volume is not very loud. There is even a nappy-changing table near the back.
将孩子拒之门外的商家认为，父母们有很多地方可以去。在New York Parkslopeparents.com的网站上列出了很多允许孩子进入的酒吧和餐馆。电影院通常也都是可以的。例如，在东86街电影院的“哭泣的宝贝专场”上播放给大人们看的电影，但也欢迎宝贝们去看。
Balancing the interests of parents and non-parents is hard. Families like to travel, but others on long-haul flights want to sleep in peace. The Economist once published a wry leader advocating child-free zones on planes and trains. Malaysian Airlines has taken our advice: it bans infants from its first-class cabins and offers child-free zones in economy in some planes. No American airline has followed suit.
为人父母和非父母之间的利益很难平衡。家庭喜欢出行，但其他长途航班上的旅客想要安静的睡眠。《经济学人》曾刊登过一位提出在飞机和火车上设立无孩子区的激进的领导者。马来西亚航空已经接受了本刊的建议：头等舱禁止孩子进入，并且在某些航班的经济舱设立无孩子区。但美国没有航空公司效仿。
Parents, by and large, think non-parents should grin and bear it when a wailing infant briefly disturbs their tranquil, responsibility-free existence. It is not as if non-parents had to get up and feed the little horror four times last night. A cramped Brooklyn outlet of Barnes & Noble, a book chain, requires strollers to be left in a designated parking space on the second floor. Many mums are furious. Have you ever tried to hold a baby, sip a latte and read “The Gruffalo”, all at once? It's not easy.
总体而言，父母们认为非父母应当在孩子的哭闹扰乱他们安宁的时候逆来顺受，认为自己不应当承担责任。这又不是让没孩子的人晚上爬起来四次，给小坏蛋喂奶。一家位于布鲁克林狭窄道路上名为Barnes & Noble的连锁书店要求手推车需要放在二楼指定的停放区域内。许多母亲为此大发雷霆到：你们有没有试过同时抱着孩子，喝口拿铁，还要读《咕噜牛》？这太难了。译者：萧毛毛
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